Seller Resources: Using Your Newsletter
Posted by Lohman Trading | E-Mail The Author
================================
This Article references services
available to sellers on eBay - ( Visit eBay )
================================
Thought I would drop by and give a little encouragement to using the free Newsletter Tool that eBay has given store owners.
For those of you who have never used the newsletter tool, you may want to set up some newsletters fro your store. Follow this path to go to the Newsletter tool:
My eBay > Manage Store > Email Marketing (left column)
On the middle of the page you can set up "Mailing List Groupings" by clicking on the "Create Mailing List" button. Some people just one main newsletter, while others create multiple newsletters focused on different segments of their business. NOTE: You are not writing a newsletter here ... only creating the "sign-up box".
People can sign-up for your newsletter whenever they click on your "Add To Favorite Sellers" link. If you would like to promote this, consider adding this link to your promotion boxes, menus, and your product listing templates. Through heavy promotion, you can easily have 100's of subscribers in a relatively short period of time.
Now what in the heck do you write in your newsletter ? Here are a couple of tips that we have found useful:
1. Newsletter Timing. Our newsletters are most successful if sent in the first week of the month. Consumers disposable income seems to be higher at the beginning of the month and lower at the end of the month. Send you newsletters out when people have the money to spend. We tend to send only 1 newsletter a month, so that we don't SPAM our customers.
2. The subject line. This is your one shot at getting the customer to open and read your email. Due to the amount of SPAM people receive you should try to include a combination of 3 things in your subject line:
a. The name of your store. Abbreviate this if you have a long name.
b. The subject matter ... IE: Antiques. This can be left out if the subject matter is included in your store name.
c. The compelling statement. Make them want to open the email. We use the words "sale" or "new" depending on what the newsletter will be about.
An example of one of our subject lines is: "NEW Rubber Stamps & Scrapbooking -- Simple Treasures"
3. What's New. This is an easy topic to write about. Since we send only one newsletter a month, we usually talk about 3-4 of the hottest new items we received in the last month. Sometimes these are specific products and sometimes completely new product lines.
4. Sales. Running some good sales in your store ? maybe some low starting bid auctions ? Write a paragraph about those in your newsletter.
5. Your Selling Points. Why should they buy from you as opposed to your competition ? If you offer a return policy, low shipping, awesome service, free gift wrap, free gifts, quick shipping, free shipping, or anything like this, mention it in your newsletter. You want your customers to buy from YOU !
6. Sell Your Products. If you are using your newsletter as a selling tool then do just that. Analyze every sentence you write in your newsletter to make sure you are focused on "selling". Don't give them your life story, or tell them about situations in your personal life unless you truly believe it will help sell you product. Try to never make negative statements in newsletters as this can instantly turn someone off from buying from you.
7. Product Links. Don't forget to use the "product listings" feature near the bottom of the newsletter creation page. You can include pictures, information, and links to up to 50 products from your store. It takes basically no work at all on your part to include these links ... just select your "search" or "display" criteria in the section called "Item List".
8. Nothing To Write. OK, so let's say that you don't have any sales and no new products. It is STILL a good idea to send a newsletter once a month to remind customers about your store. If you have nothing to write, you can still send a newsletter with just the links to 50 of your products. This newsletter feature is directly below the "text entry" boxes that appear near the top of the page. Just select the "search criteria" in the section called "Item List" and your newsletter will automatically find 50 products to place in your newsletter ... very little work on your part.
OK ... I think that is about all the time I have this evening to write about this. Gotta get some sleep. Hopefully this will insure some people to send out some sales-generating newsletters to boost your sales !
Chris
article ID: PB1Z
=
This Article references services
available to sellers on eBay - ( Visit eBay )
================================
Thought I would drop by and give a little encouragement to using the free Newsletter Tool that eBay has given store owners.
For those of you who have never used the newsletter tool, you may want to set up some newsletters fro your store. Follow this path to go to the Newsletter tool:
My eBay > Manage Store > Email Marketing (left column)
On the middle of the page you can set up "Mailing List Groupings" by clicking on the "Create Mailing List" button. Some people just one main newsletter, while others create multiple newsletters focused on different segments of their business. NOTE: You are not writing a newsletter here ... only creating the "sign-up box".
People can sign-up for your newsletter whenever they click on your "Add To Favorite Sellers" link. If you would like to promote this, consider adding this link to your promotion boxes, menus, and your product listing templates. Through heavy promotion, you can easily have 100's of subscribers in a relatively short period of time.
Now what in the heck do you write in your newsletter ? Here are a couple of tips that we have found useful:
1. Newsletter Timing. Our newsletters are most successful if sent in the first week of the month. Consumers disposable income seems to be higher at the beginning of the month and lower at the end of the month. Send you newsletters out when people have the money to spend. We tend to send only 1 newsletter a month, so that we don't SPAM our customers.
2. The subject line. This is your one shot at getting the customer to open and read your email. Due to the amount of SPAM people receive you should try to include a combination of 3 things in your subject line:
a. The name of your store. Abbreviate this if you have a long name.
b. The subject matter ... IE: Antiques. This can be left out if the subject matter is included in your store name.
c. The compelling statement. Make them want to open the email. We use the words "sale" or "new" depending on what the newsletter will be about.
An example of one of our subject lines is: "NEW Rubber Stamps & Scrapbooking -- Simple Treasures"
3. What's New. This is an easy topic to write about. Since we send only one newsletter a month, we usually talk about 3-4 of the hottest new items we received in the last month. Sometimes these are specific products and sometimes completely new product lines.
4. Sales. Running some good sales in your store ? maybe some low starting bid auctions ? Write a paragraph about those in your newsletter.
5. Your Selling Points. Why should they buy from you as opposed to your competition ? If you offer a return policy, low shipping, awesome service, free gift wrap, free gifts, quick shipping, free shipping, or anything like this, mention it in your newsletter. You want your customers to buy from YOU !
6. Sell Your Products. If you are using your newsletter as a selling tool then do just that. Analyze every sentence you write in your newsletter to make sure you are focused on "selling". Don't give them your life story, or tell them about situations in your personal life unless you truly believe it will help sell you product. Try to never make negative statements in newsletters as this can instantly turn someone off from buying from you.
7. Product Links. Don't forget to use the "product listings" feature near the bottom of the newsletter creation page. You can include pictures, information, and links to up to 50 products from your store. It takes basically no work at all on your part to include these links ... just select your "search" or "display" criteria in the section called "Item List".
8. Nothing To Write. OK, so let's say that you don't have any sales and no new products. It is STILL a good idea to send a newsletter once a month to remind customers about your store. If you have nothing to write, you can still send a newsletter with just the links to 50 of your products. This newsletter feature is directly below the "text entry" boxes that appear near the top of the page. Just select the "search criteria" in the section called "Item List" and your newsletter will automatically find 50 products to place in your newsletter ... very little work on your part.
OK ... I think that is about all the time I have this evening to write about this. Gotta get some sleep. Hopefully this will insure some people to send out some sales-generating newsletters to boost your sales !
Chris
article ID: PB1Z
=
posted by Lohman Trading | E-Mail The Author | 5:26 PM
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